Monday, December 28, 2009

Ninja is a martial arts movie(if you haven't guessed by the title!) starring Scott Adkins as Casey who has grown up as an orphan inside a Japanese dojo. He's the only Western-looking guy in the dojo and he trains non stop. He catches the eye of Namiko(Mika Hiji) who is the Sensei's daughter, but this makes another student in the dojo jealous. He is Masazuka(Tsuyoshi Ihara) and he clearly has a bad streak as he looks on with anger!! While they are training together, Masazuka goes too far and tries to kill Casey but he gets banished from the dojo. He seems amazed when he is told that he is never to come back and I don't know why!!What did he expect after nearly killing another student??!!!

Masazuka goes on to become a brilliant assassin working for the highest bidder while Casey goes on to be one of the top guys at the dojo.The dojo's pride and joy is the Yoroi Bitsu, which is a legendary sword that the Sensei keeps with him at all times in a box. It is sent over to New York for analysis by a professor and Casey and Namiko are sent with it along with a couple of others. Meanwhile, Masazuka attacks the dojo on his own to steal the Yoroi Bitsu and he kills the Sensei.He finds out that the sword is in New York and with the help of a secret brotherhood called 'The Ring', he begins to track down Casey and Namiko and the sword. Naturally, they try and protect the sword from him.The secret brotherhood provides plenty of baddies for Casey to beat up and kill!

There are some brilliant action scenes of sword fighting and general fighting which are very like the movies of Jackie Chan and Jet Li. If you like their movies, then check this out as Scott Adkins is very good in the fight scenes and he does a lot of jumping kicks and he takes on multiple opponents at once. The story is fairly generic as you know what is going to happen but the fights really make the movie watchable. There is great use of slow-motion as Adkins fights his way through his enemies and jumps up over moving cars.This movie is only 1 hour 20 Min's, but it is a very fun movie, especially if you are into Martial Arts movies as I am. If you don't like Jackie Chan or Jet Li movies, then don't watch this. There are a lot of bloody scenes as swords slice through bodies so be aware of that if you don't like blood!!To me this movie had all that is good in these type of movies. The story moves along quickly as you know what is going to happen anyway and the fight scenes are great which is what it is made for!!!Definitely check this out now!!

Friday, December 25, 2009

Happy Christmas to all who visit Jigsaw's Lair!!!!!!!!! I hope that you are having or had a great day!!! It will depend on what time you are reading this of course!! I hope that you are enjoying your day with your family and loved ones.You should be making sure to be watching a favourite movie of yours on TV or on DVD.Hopefully recommended by us or just a personal favourite of yours! One of my personal favourite non-horror Christmas related movies is Planes,Trains and Automobiles.Before you put finger to the typing keys to tell me it is a Thanksgiving movie, I know that already! We don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Ireland so in my mind it is a Christmas movie! When the kids are put to bed or you just want a scare then it may be time for a horror movie! So Happy Christmas to you and I hope you like the pictures of Kitty and Felix trying to get into the Christmas mood! I can tell you it was very hard to get the Christmas outfit on Felix and I had to take it off straight away! I think Kitty would be too big for the jacket so I didn't try it on her! Hopefully the pics put a smile on your face like they did to mine!!!!!!

Monday, December 21, 2009

We at Jigsaw's Lair are very saddened to hear about the premature death of Brittany Murphy.She died of a heart attack at her home. She was just 32 years of age which is way too young for her to die..She is survived by her husband, Simon Monjack.

Well, most people will know her from her roles in Clueless(1995), Sin City(2005) and 8 Mile(2002). She was a quirky kind of person who often played off beat characters and she had a distinctive voice. She was the voice of Luanne Platter in the brilliant series King of The Hill. I knew her from Clueless of course because it was her breakout role and she played the rough around the edges girl who is taken in by the stylish crowd in high school and changed into one of them.She was also in Just Married(2003) with her ex-boyfriend Aston Kutcher. She also starred in Uptown Girls(2003), Little Black Book(2004), Deadline(2009) and Across The Hall(2009).

Some of her movies might not have been Oscar contenders but she played characters well and she was an up and coming star. She had a part in Stallone's The Expendables so I wonder what will happen with that now. She has a few more movies in production too so we will see what happens. It is rumoured that she had some problems with drugs and that she was too thin. You can never really know in Hollywood. Actresses are under a lot of pressure to look a certain way and I guess it can endanger their lives.But, we don't really know for certain what circumstances directly contributed to her death so there is no point speculating.

She was a young woman who should not have died so young. She seemed like a happy person and the tributes to her from her friends etc all say that she was a bright and sunny person. For this to happen is a tragedy and it brings to mind other young actors whose lives were cut short. River Phoenix and Heath Ledger are just two that come to mind. It seems Hollywood has claimed another victim. May she rest in peace and we send our best wishes to her family..

Thursday, December 17, 2009

I like watching sports events and recently I watched UFC 107.That is the Ultimate Fighting Championship in case you did not know! Did you see it? Do you watch it too? What did you think of it and the fighters? Let me know what you thought! Here is what I thought of each fight.........BJ PENN VS DIEGO SANCHEZ

BJ Penn is one of my favourite fighters as he is so skilled in different areas but I like Diego Sanchez also. I like the way Penn always seems so relaxed when he is fighting and he makes it look so easy.I guess that is why he is called 'The Prodigy'. Sanchez looked very hungry for the title, so I knew he was going to be coming for Penn with all guns blazing. This seemed a very even fight just looking at them and I gave a very slight advantage to Penn because of his experience. Penn dominated the fight and as usual, looked very relaxed. He was so good he made Sanchez look ordinary when in fact he is a great fighter.

Sanchez almost got knocked out in round 1 but he showed great heart and spirit to keep the fight going. He kept on trying to take Penn down but Penn's defence is just too good. Then, in round 5, Penn gave a kick to Diego's head and opened up a huge cut on his forehead.It looked awful and blood poured from it and when the doctor had a look at it, the fight was stopped. A very dominant performance from Penn. He is definitely the greatest MMA Heavyweight ever as Joe Rogan said after the fight.

CHEICK KONGO VS FRANK MIR

Kongo is a big, strong fighter who looks impressive and you would put him as a bad guy in a movie! Mir is one of my favourite fighters . For such a big guy, he has some brilliant submission skills which is why I like him. I don't think that he has ever been the same since his motorcycle accident though. This was a fight that you could see both fighters winning but, as Mir said in the pre-fight interview, he had more advantage because of his submission skills, so I went for Mir to win.

Mir caught Kongo in the first round with a left punch and jumped on Kongo when he was on the ground. Then he put Kongo to sleep in a choke hold that was very impressive! I hope he goes on to fight Brock Lesnar..

KENNY FLORIAN VS CLAY GUIDA

I love Clay Guida's all-action style and he really fought with a lot of heart. Florian is a guy I have seen fight and I know he is a good fighter. In this fight, the commentators said that Florian had a new trainer so he would be much improved. My heart said Guida, but my brain said Florian! Florian caught Guida coming in on the chin and ended up choking Guida out on the ground in round 2. Very impressive from Florian.

STEFAN STRUVE VS PAUL BUENTELLO

Struve is a very big guy and he is only 21 and 6 ft 11! He is very tall and looked impressive in previous fights. Buentello is a guy I like who has real knockout power and I have seen him in many fights. Other than his knockout power, there was not much else here so I was predicting a win for Struve unless he got sloppy and got caught by a knockout punch. Struve won by a judges decision and was clearly better but could not finish Buentello off even when he had him on his back.

MIKE PIERCE VS JON FITCH

I have seen Jon Fitch fight and was impressed with him but I did not know Mike Pierce at all. On that basis I went for Jon Fitch as I liked the way he has fought before. Fitch pushed the pace and was on top throughout except for a few seconds of punches near the end of round 3 from Pierce. Pierce looked fairly limited but showed some good defence on the ground. It was a judges decision for Fitch.

DAMARQUES JOHNSON VS EDGAR GARCIA

I knew Johnson from The Ultimate Fighter TV show and I liked his style. I did not know Garcia before this so I went for Johnson here. Garcia put on a great show and this was a great fight even though it was over in the first round. They both went at it and Garcia seemed to get on top, landing a right punch. This knocked Johnson down and Garcia jumped on him. Johnson landed an upkick and then caught Garcia in a triangle choke. It was a nice move from Johnson. He is one to watch in the future.

Overall, UFC 107 was a great event and showed Penn and Mir at their best. Kenny Florian looked very good also and all my predictions were right!!! I wrote my predictions before the fights so I did not cheat and write them afterwards!! I wish I had bet on my predictions! I hope that Mir goes on to get his hands on Brock Lesnar again as that will be another great fight. Who will stop BJ Penn? There's nobody in his league at the moment. What did you think of UFC 107? Let me know what you thought!!!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

This movie is a Canadian thriller starring Matthew Lillard(pictured below). Those of you who might not have heard of him, he was one of the two killers in the first Scream movie. It is directed by a guy called Rob Cowan.

Lillard plays a failed screenwriter called Joel Brandt who teaches classes in screenwriting at a college.He gets on well with a girl in his class called Millie(Gina Holden). She is an aspiring writer and she talks to him about her work. He seems an eccentric guy and he has his own way of doing things. His girlfriend is Claire(Chiara Zanni) and she is an aspiring actress. Joel gets a message left on his answering machine from someone he doesn't know saying that he needs to come to a certain address of that person will die. He thinks that it is a prank from his friend, Adam(Michael Eklund).He finds out that it was not Adam.

He wonders what is going on when he receives more of these calls. He goes to the addresses but he is too late. The cops are on the scene and Detective Lavery(Deborah Kara Unger) talks to Joel about what happened and he tells her about his calls. She wonders if he is the one committing the crimes.. Joel is surprised that they don't believe his story. He has deleted the messages so there is no proof. Detective Lavery has his as the number one suspect for the murders and the cops begin to follow him around much to his annoyance. He keeps getting the calls and he keeps turning up too late. As more bodies are found, he looks guiltier by the minute.He finds out that the killings are very similar to a screenplay that he had written years ago. He begins to think that he is being framed for these murders. It is discovered that he has stolen the idea for his screenplay from a former student and he realises that this person is after him.

He tries to find the person whose name is written on the screenplay,but he can't. Meanwhile, the police catch him at another crime scene and they hunt him all over the city. His girlfriend is killed by the psycho and he is accused of that too. He gets help from Millie(pictured above) and he stays with her while the cops are looking for him. He sends Millie off with Adam for her own safety. He begins to wonder if Adam is the killer and he races after them.He calls the cops to tell them about Adam.The cops follow him and Joel ends up at a house where Adam and Millie went. Adam stumbles out and Joel shoots him, thinking that he is the killer. He soon finds out that it is not Adam but Millie who is the killer. It turns out that the screenplay was hers and that he stole her idea or something like that and she wants revenge. He tries to kill her, but he fails at first. Detective Lavery turns up and he tries to warn her about Millie but she won't listen and the detective gets killed. Joel shoots her with a bow and arrow and she dies. We cut to the end and Matthew is in prison and he has finally got his bestselling screenplay......

This movie was not bad at all. I wasn't sure about it at first, but I enjoyed it after a while. The story was interesting and there were a lot of red herrings in this. I would recommend it. It gets a 6/10.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Okay, the first thing that I will say about this movie is that I am a huge fan of the originals and I really wasn't crazy about the remake of the first movie. But, I love horror and I like to watch things before I decide what I think. So, we sat down to watch this and I had some reservations. Jigsaw loved the first remake and I wasn't crazy about it. But, we watched this and we were amazed by how poor it is. It is directed by Rob Zombie.

It begins with a young Michael Myers who is in a sanitarium as a kid. Then it cuts to 15 years later after the events of the first movie. Laurie Strode(Scout Taylor-Compton) is found wandering around by the cops. She is taken into hospital. The cops go to the scene of the crime and they take away Annie(Danielle Harris) to hospital and they take away the 'dead' body of Michael Myers. Of course, the van that Myers is in happens to slam into a cow and he wakes up and kills the driver.He is free yet again. Laurie wakes up in hospital and she thinks that Michael is after her.He comes after her and tries to kill her again, but this ends up just being a nightmare.

Still with me? Good.Cut to October 29th 2 years later. Laurie is living with Annie and her dad, Sheriff Brackett(Brad Dourif).Laurie is seeing a therapist,Barbara Collier(Margot Kidder). She tells her about the dreams she is having. They talk about Annie and Laurie tells her that Annie is a reminder of what happened. Meanwhile, Dr. Loomis(Malcolm McDowell) is promoting his new book. It is about the murders and Michael Myers. People ask him if Myers is really dead and Dr. Loomis tells them that without a doubt, Michael Myers is definitely dead.Michael is wandering in the wilderness and he kills some people in a truck and he finally reaches Haddonfield. Dr Loomis happens to be there too for his book launch. Laurie begins to see things and she thinks that she is going crazy. She goes to her therapist again.

Michael is still butchering people for getting in his way and he goes to a strip club and murders a few more. Dr.Loomis is on some talk show to plug his book and who is on it? Weird Al, that's who!! He makes fun of Dr. Loomis and he is not pleased. So, back to the killing. Michael kills more people at a Halloween Party. He tracks Laurie down and he kills Annie first. Then, he comes after Laurie. Loomis happens to be there too and Michael kills him. Michael and Laurie are in some shack and the cops are there too. They want Michael to come out but Laurie walks out and gets shot. Then we cut to the end where Laurie is in a mental institution....Was it all in her head???WHO CARES!

This was terrible. The only good thing about it was the cameo by Weird Al(pictured above)and some interesting death sequences. But, that was not enough to make us enjoy this. There is no excuse for such a bad movie.It really makes a mockery of what the Halloween story is supposed to be.I couldn't recommend this to anyone. It gets a weak 1/10.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

The Box is a movie starring Frank Langella, Cameron Diaz and James Marsden. It is a psychological thriller and Langella plays a mysterious man called Arlington Steward who one day leaves a box outside the front door of the home of Arthur Lewis(Marsden) and his wife Norma(Diaz). He has a facial disfigurement from a burn injury. He decides to pop in the next day. He calls in to put a proposition to the couple. They can push a button mounted on top of the box and they will get one million dollars but unfortunately, someone they do not know will die. They are given 24 hours to decide.

The Box is written and directed by Richard Kelly who was responsible for Donnie Darko and it is based on a story by Richard Matheson called 'Button, Button'. I read that Kelly decided to base this in the 1970's as nowadays people have access to the Internet and photos to learn about mysterious people so this explains why the couple know nothing about Steward. Arthur works in NASA and Norma walks with a limp as her foot was left under an X-Ray machine when she was younger and the radiation affected her.

The Box starts off with great promise as the whole premise seems interesting. It takes the couple forty minutes of the movie to press the button. I don't think that's a spoiler as obviously they press the button or there would be no movie!!Once they press it, things do not go according to plan for the couple. For me, the movie got very weird and nothing much happens in it other than people around the couple getting nosebleeds and people acting strangely. Cameron Diaz has a pensive look on her face throughout and does not do much in this movie. This story was previously made into an episode from the first season('85-'86) of The Twilight Zone but Richard Matheson did not like that version. I wonder does he like this version?

I thought that it was terrible. Bear in mind that I did not really like Donnie Darko so I'm guessing that if you loved that movie, then you will love The Box. The movie ends on a very depressing note so do not go to see this to lift your spirits!! I did not like this movie and would not recommend it to you. Only see this if you are a hardcore Donnie Darko/Richard Kelly fan! Maybe then you will love it. For everyone else, stay well away as this is one box that should stay closed!!!!!

Friday, December 11, 2009

This is a trailer for a new movie due out next year. This movie is called Salt and it stars Angelina Jolie as a CIA agent who is accused of being a Russian spy. She has to go on the run and protect her family when she is hunted....This was originally written with a guy in the lead role, but they changed it to a woman so I don't really know what this will be like. I am not a huge fan of Jolie, so we will see...Enjoy the trailer anyway...

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

This is a made-for-TV movie which also happened to be the first motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg. It was released in 1971 and it is based on a short story by Richard Matheson. It stars Dennis Weaver and a large menacing truck.David Mann (Weaver) is a businessman who is on the road driving for his job. He has an appointment to keep and he is minding his own business driving through California. He is driving along when he sees a huge truck ahead of him. He decides to pass it out as it is driving slowly. He is passed out by the truck which then slows down again in front of him. He decides to overtake it once again and this time, the driver blows his horn at David who gets a fright. He begins to realise that he may have made a mistake in passing out the truck. He pulls into a gas station and he makes a call to his wife. We find out that David does not like confrontation and we guess that that will be key later on. He sees that the truck also stopped at the gas station.

After this, an eerie game of cat- and- mouse begins between the mild- mannered David and the looming and monstrous truck. The driver begins playing games with David and he begins to try and make David crash. David stops at a diner and it is obvious that he is an outsider. The locals look at him and he gets the idea that he is not welcome. David sees the truck outside, empty. He looks around and tries to figure out which one of them it is. He thinks that he has found the man but he is wrong and he has to leave the cafe. He doesn't get to see the driver as he has jumped into his truck and is on the road before David can see who it was.

The next part of the movie is when the driver of the truck begins to get serious . He tries to push David's car in front of a train but David escapes just in time. He tries to call the police, but the truck comes at the phone booth and David just dodges death. The truck seems intent on destroying David and he is worried. David tries to speed off and get away from the truck, but it is no use. He cannot outrun this huge hulking truck. David rigs the car with his briefcase leaning on the accelerator so the driver of the truck thinks that he is in it. There is a canyon and David sets the car going in the direction of the truck. The driver can't resist trying to destroy the car and David, but he ends up going over the canyon instead, destroying the truck and killing whoever was in it. David breaks down in laughter after his ordeal and he just watches as the truck is burning.

I loved this movie because it is all action and suspense. We never get to see just who WAS behind the wheel. We are left wondering WHY the man in he truck went crazy and why he targeted David. The story is so simple, yet it is great fun and I am surprised that this was directed by Steven Spielberg who is always associated with those big-budget movies. This is a very entertaining movie and I really have to give it a 9/10.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

This book is based on a true story of the killer called 'The I-5 Killer'. It is written by veteran true-crime novelist Ann Rule. She wrote this book under the pseudonym Andy Stack. It was released in 1988. Ann Rule has also written books about serial killer Ted Bundy and the Green River Killer.

The I-5 Killer was a man called Randy Woodfield(pictured above). He is called The I-5 killerbecause his crimes were committed along the I-5 Highway running from Washington to California. Randy was a handsome guy and he was pretty popular at school. He was athletic too and he played football in school and college. But, underneath his perfect exterior was a young man with sexual desires which were not normal. He went out and exposed himself in public while he was still in school. He was lucky that he didn't get in trouble because he was such a good athlete. He also committed smaller crimes, but despite his arrests, he still managed to get onto the Green Bay Packers team in 1974. Eventually he got kicked off when his lewd behaviour caught up with him

That was the start of his real criminal life. After he was dropped from the team, he began to rob stores etc at knife point. He sexually assaulted young women and he always wore a band aid across his nose as someone had told him that it made it harder for people to see his face. He murdered women and he sexually assaulted many. He was caught when the police were investigating another shooting and his name came up. They searched his home and they found evidence that he was the man they were looking for in connection with dozens of assaults and murders. Randy Woodfield was sentenced to life in prison and another 165 years were added for other crimes. He is currently 58 years of age and he is serving his sentence in the Oregon State Penitentiary. He was linked to other crimes from years ago and he was suspected in many more.

This book was very interesting and detailed. It chronicles Woodfield's life from his childhood up until he was caught and it shows how he grew from a normal kid into a monster who used women for his own sexual desires and how he thought that he was smarter than the cops. He was a Romeo to many women and they could not believe that he was a killer. That was how he managed to elude the cops for so long. Ann Rule(pictured above) is a very good writer and the book is very well written. It is a must for any true-crime readers like myself and Jigsaw. I really recommend this book and I would say that it was very enjoyable.

Monday, December 7, 2009

This movie is very low-budget. It is directed by Susan Hippen. There are no stars in it, just a group of actors who could do much better than star in this movie. It ain't great, it ain't good!!!It is just plain BAAAADDDD!!This movie is 'based on a true story'.

The movie begins in 1959 in L.A. with a young girl called Dahlia(Tafne Ellington) crying over her boyfriend who has gone off with someone else and left her pregnant. She is in a sorority and her pals are trying to get her to come out of the bathroom where she has locked herself in. Her boyfriend is called Billy Bart. She tries to give herself a home abortion and she dies of blood loss. We cut to present day and a new bunch of sorority sisters have moved into that same house where Dahlia died all those years before.The girls look around the house. They have no electricity or phone yet.

They are not impressed with the old place. They wander around and pick out their bedrooms. The girls are bitchy head of the cheerleaders, her sidekick, a wishy- washy spiritual girl and a couple of others. One of the girls finds a ring in the bathroom. It belonged to Dahlia. The house is spooky and chairs move around etc. Their watches stop in the house. While the girls are messing around with stuff in the house, there are three guys trying to break in. They are their boyfriends or something. Dahlia is lurking around in the house waiting to come up behind someone and kill them!The girls discuss the case of Red Dahlia and they talk about what happened in the house all those years ago. One of them makes fun of the Dahlia. They have a Ouija Board and they try to contact the Red Dahlia. They get a message that the ghost wants life.

The guys are discovered in the house and there are some sexual scenes which are just plain stupid. People start to get bumped off by the Dahlia in some interesting and just plain strange ways! Most of gals and guys get killed and there are only two left who try and escape from the Dahlia. One of the girls calls up Billy Bart and gets him to come over to the house. Dahlia and Billy have a confrontation and everything is weird. They seem to have gotten rid of her from the house, but then the ending is all strange and silly.

Watch this movie at your own risk. I watched it and I really felt that it was very poorly made and executed. The camera work was pretty bad and it is obvious that not much money went into this film. The plot weaves all over the place and it is just hard to give a crap about the characters in this . It is a bad movie and that is all there is to it. It gets a very weak 2/10.